Should You Stockpile Olive Oil?

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Erratic weather, including a devastating drought in Europe and a
freak hailstorm in Australia, has left the world with a looming
shortage of olive oil.

In spring of 2012, a late frost hit Spain in the middle of the
olive's flowering season, according to the
Huffington Post. As a result, Spanish olive trees produced
fewer fruits, and those olives the trees did produce were smaller
and yielded less oil.

Spain is the world's largest producer of olive oil, making almost
half the global supply, according to the
Guardian. But Spain was one of several olive-producing
countries hammered by a drought that swept across southern Europe
in the summer of 2012.

While olive growers in Greece, Turkey, Italy and Tunisia all
suffered from the drought, none reported losses like the
staggering 60 percent drop in olive production that hit Spanish
growers, according to the
Daily Mail.

These factors — combined with a severe hailstorm that destroyed
roughly 6 percent of Australia's olive crop, according to
Australia's ABC.net
news service — have left restaurants and food manufacturers
worldwide in a tight spot.

Not only will the olive oil shortage raise prices, but it's also
expected to increase the already-rampant illegal doctoring of
olive oil, the Daily Mail reports. In 2011, two businessmen in
Spain were found guilty of selling extra-virgin olive oil that
was, in fact, 75 percent sunflower oil, a cheaper substitute.

The market for olive oil has grown rapidly in recent years as
food scientists have touted the product's health benefits.
Studies have shown that the oil can improve
cholesterol levels, and it's an important component of the
Mediterranean diet, frequently cited as one of the most
healthful ways of eating.